10/27/08

When Deploying to Iraq is AWOL in Campaign Season

Josh Mandel is the young-looking state rep from Ohio, who has also done two tours in Iraq with the Marine Corps. The number of Iraq/A-stan vets in positions of political power is so small currently, that Fox News once dide a two-and-a-half minute special on him. Trial lawyers and corruption are not unusual for politics, however, so his opponents wife in his district, Barbara Belovich, decided to play up the weirdness of having a military background as opposed to years prosecuting slip and fall accidents. From Townhall:

Of all the factors he weighed, Mr. Mandel says political concerns were not among them. Now he has been forced to deal with the politics of that decision. The opponent in his tough re-election fight, trial attorney Bob Belovich, is attacking Mr. Mandel’s service, arguing that he abandoned voters. Mr. Belovich’s wife, Barbara, acknowledged in an interview for this column that she has told voters that Mr. Mandel “went AWOL” (a military term for desertion) by fighting in Iraq.

Even Mr. Mandel’s motives for serving in Iraq are being questioned. Mrs. Belovich claimed in an interview with this columnist that Mandel “put his personal ambitions ahead of his constituents.” Asked why anyone would enter a war zone out of “personal ambition,” Barbara Belovich replied curtly, “Certainly he wasn’t serving our needs.”

Audio of CHUDs in their backroom dealings are here. Bob Belovich then suggested the only reason he won the 2006 election was because he had a Jewish name. While the election is in doubt, Josh Mandel sure has some real winners running against him.